Words fail. If you didn’t watch the Donald Trump press conference — a tour de force of obfuscation, bullying, misrepresentation, sheer dishonesty and media manipulation — you should. He did admit that Russia probably did meddle in the election. He did virtually nothing to solve his immense conflicts of interest in his business — even bragged that he’d talked recently to a big investor about a deal, but spurned it. He reminded all that the president, by law, has no conflicts of interest and that he could pretty well do what he pleases. A nice touch was some vouching for Trump by a lawyer from a firm that once received a Russia Law Firm of the Year award.
Here’s the New York Times lead story. It and others will run down the many rabbit trails in this performance, but I suspect Trump’s lying media message will command sufficient sympathy for him to weather it. You don’t have to look hard on the web for harsh criticism of Trump. But I think the press looked ineffectual and Trump dominating. Give him a couple of 140-character blasts and he’ll explain in a few words that a significant number of Americans will understand in a way favorable to him. A shower of return tweets may be the only way to fight back.
Here’s the full transcript and video.
Author Stephen King (and probably many others) called it a train wreck. But I wonder who wrecked?